Plans to build 50 apartments for the elderly in Haverhill

A developer specialising in purpose-built properties for the elderly has proposed redeveloping the site of a disused Haverhill care home.

Churchill Retirement Living is seeking planning permission to build 50 one and two-bedroom apartments on the former Place Court Care Home site in Camps Road, which has remained closed since last year.

The accommodation would be managed by Millstream Management Services Ltd and would be specifically designed to meet the needs of independent retired people, providing self-contained apartments within a single block.

They would be sold with a lease containing an age restriction to ensure that only people aged 60 or over, or of that age and with a partner of at least 55, can live there.

Communal facilities listed in the planning application, submitted to the borough council, include an on-site lodge manager, video entry system, owner’s lounge and library for use by all residents and guests, a lift fitted with an emergency call system and seat, a landscaped garden, guest suite, toilet , bin store, parking area with 16 spaces and an area for storing and recharging electric buggies.

The planning statement, issued on behalf of Churchill, states: “It has previously been confirmed in pre-application discussions with St Edmundsbury Borough Council planning officers that, given the previous use of the site, the principle of a sheltered housing development is considered acceptable.”

It adds: “Good quality retirement housing has important social and health benefits for older people reducing the burden on public services and costs to the Government.”

Haverhill Town Council is due to discuss the application at a meeting tomorrow.

Neither Natural England or the Environment Agency have objected to the proposed scheme.